Very well executed

Absolutely amazing

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I do not go much for Lelouch's stuff ,which is to the French cinema what Mac Donald is to gastronomy.But,and this is crucial,there are exceptions."La Vie,L'Amour ,La Mort" which was a semi-flop ,was a sincere plea against death penalty;and there are two delicious comedies:one of them is "La Belle Année" (1974) ,and the other is this film .It's about a child's abduction but things are not what they seem,and at a time when unexpected twists have become de rigueur ,I think one could remake "le voyou".The film takes also at a slap at the commercials and the "Thank you,Simca ( cars)" scene is worth the price of admission.Also features Sacha Distel at the Olympia ,the famous Paris music hall: he sings "Toute La PLuie Tombe Sur Moi" ;a French cover of "raindrops keep fallin' on my head".Good cast with a dynamic Jean-Louis Trintignant,who starred in Lelouch's Cannes Palme d'Or 1966 "Un Homme et Une Femme" ,and Charles Denner.Anachronisms: the kidnapping was supposed to happen in 1965;but "raindrops keep fallin' on my head " was a 1970 song,so Distel could not sing a cover in 1965.Ditto for the "Un homme et Une Femme" (1966) private joke!

On the loose again after escaping from prison, Tritignant, known as "the Swiss" for his precision and his habit of working alone (?) is a suave criminal who avoids capture and carries out a successful kidnapping (in which he does not at all work alone but has three or four accomplices). The film has a bright look and a pleasing sense of watching a smooth, gentlemanly crook at work, though there is never any sense of danger, and comparisons with Tarantino seem very wide of the mark. The action has momentum and charm, but things become a bit confusing due to oddly placed flashbacks. There is a focus on the role of publicity and media involvement in kidnappings, which allows the "crook" to successfully blackmail a bank for a million dollars, and features a gullible couple who give up their small boy because they think they've won a Simca car. We're suckered by ads, Lelouch is saying, and look what it can come to. Charles Denner of Elevator to the Scaffold and Life Inside Out/La vie à l'envers is effective and strange, if not real, as a minor bank official. A typical Lelouch touch is bookending the film with a musical film-within-the-film called "The Crook"/"Le Voyou" and it is all very amusing,stylish, and light. But somehow it leaves you flat, and the main event, the kidnapping, cheats the audience: we aren't told the setup.

I watched lately this movie and enjoyed a lot. I love old French movies anyway. But this one had kind of nice storyline in it also. It was directed quite well. Picture didn't jump around and kept in line with story. It had even some musical touch and it was nice to hear old French songs. It didn't to become boredom though. It stopped singing fast enough. Movie was filmed around cities in different European countries and scenes were pretty. Also acting work was professional level and much more robust than Hollywood acting. Less sugar coating! I would recommend this movie to any Francophile and also crime movie liker! It is really fun to watch and something different from nowadays.

This is a film that I remember fondly from the 70s. A great caper movie with several twists and turns. Betrayal and counter betrayal and a conclusion that makes you laugh out loud! Usually a serious actor in political or psychological films - Jean Louis T. tries some lighter than air 'hey-presto' and proves that he can do comedy as well. I wish more people would know this film so that the satirical line "Merci, Simca" would be a household word - to diffuse Regis' line "Is that your final answer".Of the several themes the film explores, none is more relevant than the theme of the popularization of greed. A 'kidnapage' is effectively carried out during a televised game show, whilst the parents are instructed to repeat the sponsors name, hence they repeat "Merci, Simca", the name of the car they hope to win.